International Business Enterprise before 1945: Evolution of the Global Cigarette Market.

This paper examines the international growth and development of the British-American Tobacco Co. from 1900 to 1945. As one of the first cases of a market-driven multinational corporation, the paper is able to highlight both the international development of the industry through its various historical phases, and the kinds of problems that a pioneering multinational was forced to deal with. BAT's international management, for example, was among the first to face the issue of globalisation versus localisation in relation to its international product marketing that is now fundamental to the implementation of a successful global business strategy.